A swing plane is a tricky concept to understand, and a golf swing plane is even harder as there are three different planes involved. For a single plane imagine a weighted pendulum as it swings, it forms and arc; now move that concept to a weighted piece of string you are swinging, it is also producing the perfect arc, that is a plane. If the weight was able to swing freely it would be swinging on a perfect plane.

Now with golf it is a bit trickier to explain. We have the idea of the weight swinging freely but what would happen if your arm or wrist were at an angle. Then the plane would be about that angle. If you arm was angled left your plane would be angled left, if the arm was angled to the right then so would your plane. Move those thoughts to how you swing a golf club, the plane swing relates to when you swing the club around your body, and the two angled swings relate to the way you are tilting your body for the shot.

The driving range is a great place to study the relationship between the angle that you tilt your body and the direction of the shot. Putting what you have worked out into practice you will soon learn the correct angle to be at to get your shots to go straight.There is not a right or wrong stroke plane. Everybody has a different one as it relates to body height and size, among other things. But once you have mastered it you will start to reduce your scores, as you will start to gain more accuracy and distance with your shots.

When practicing your golf swing do it in front of the mirror, or better still record it. Then you can go and analyze it later. If you are lucky enough to have a coach let them know what you’re trying to do, and the chances are they can help make things a lot easier for you.

When you do start to evaluate and improve your swing you must start from the very beginning. Reappraise your stance, you might not think it has changed over your golfing career but it probably has. It only needs a slight change in weight or flexibility in your joints to alter your stance. It could be that your swing sends you off-balances because of a shift in your center of gravity. But it can be fixed and your game will improve tremendously.

Filed under: Golf

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